Hungary Population Distribution
In the villages of Alföld the house is built either with sun-dried bricks (vályog) or of a mixture of clay and reeds, held firm by some boards (tömes fal) or of a mixture of earth and straw (rakott fal). It is generally composed of three contiguous rooms; the festive room, which overlooks the street and which is a kind of living room reserved for parties and visits, the kitchen, the back room of the house. The kitchen is in turn divided into two parts, one of which is used for cooking operations, while the other, where the door opens to access the festive room, forms a kind of vestibule. The temporary country houses (tanya) generally include a large courtyard, along the shorter side of which are the bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen, while in front there is usually a covered veranda. Frequent in the countryside is the csárda, a building that serves as a meeting place, inn, market.
According to baglib, Pastoralism is among the occupations that best preserves some original elements. In the puszta, cattle live for 7-8 months outdoors in the wild, not unlike in the Asian steppes. For the sheep, however, there are shelters (karám), made in the shape of a T. The life of the puszta is entirely governed by a complex of traditional rules, where folkloristic features are mixed with residual traces of an ancestral economy. The horse keeper (csikós), who has higher rank, usually wears a blue smock, a pair of tight trousers, boots (on the bare foot), a black hat; he wears a belt with pockets for tobacco, holds a long whip in his hand and knows how to use the lace that is placed on the horse’s neck. On a festive occasion, he wears a shirt, white, wide, with many folds, an artistically decorated black corset with gold buttons. In summer, it shelters from the wind and from the scorching sun with reeds or with a primitive fence of boards, where there is room for washing and sleeping (cserény). However, young people prefer to rest outdoors at night, wrapped in cloaks. In the same class of horse keepers there are several categories and the first herdsman (f ő számadó) is distinguished from the foal keeper (számadó bojtár) and from the cleaner (lakos). The ox keeper (gulyás) follows in the shepherds’ staircase, who does not go on horseback, but on foot and is equipped with a long stick. Lower rank have the shepherd (jahász) and the pig keeper (kondás). The latter have less need to move and therefore live in clay huts, with reed roofs, without windows. The shepherds wear a thick leather cloak (su – ba). On June 20 of each year, a famous fair is held in a tavern located on the eastern edge of the puszta. Popular dances and songs are very popular.
Beekeeping has been an occupation practiced since ancient times, like hunting, while falconry, once widespread in the country, derived from contacts with Turkish populations. The objects referring to fishing, on the other hand, show relations with the Finns. Now in disuse is the boat with a single log (lélekvesztö) and the habit of setting up fishing companies (halászbokrok) to divide the fishing areas, while a kind of basket (ihany) is still in use for the sale of fish. in the markets.
The style of dress has been preserved in many places, especially the festive dress, which often derives from ancient customs, as appears from the fact that it has similarities with the clothes of the Finno-Ugric peoples who live along the Volga and Kama rivers. The best-known garments are the large sheepskin cloak (szür), the leather-lined jacket made from the fleece of an unshorn sheep (ködmen), and the lined fur covering the whole body (bunda). Hemp rather than linen is used for linen. The sewing works are usually single-colored, mostly red, sometimes blue or black. Household utensils are made of wood and are artistically decorated (especially by the Sicilians of Transylvania).
According to a recent statistic (prepared by J. Nagy), which also takes into account those belonging to other states, the Hungarians would be 12,030,000 in all, of which 8 million in present-day Hungary, 3,300,000 in the successor states of Austria. (one and a half million in Romania, half a million in Yugoslavia, over a million in Czechoslovakia, 20,000 in Burgenland), 570,000 in the United States and 160,000 in other countries.
